This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm an ex-mayor. Los Angeles is a magnet for people from all over the world. Some of them run for public office. Inevitably some of them stray from the golden rule and rule for those that have the gold. That's when I go to work. My name is Yorty. I'm a dead pol.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The dean of the City Hall reporters, Rick Orlov, notes developer Rick Caruso's flirtation with running for Mayor and even gives us props for staying on the beat. Orlov postulates that Caruso may have some trouble with the African American community because he was on the Police Commission when they declined Bernard Parks' bid for a second and of course because he once called Maxine Waters a name that rhymes with, uh, rich.

I told you previously that two big name local politicans are set to endorse Caruso over Villaraigosa. Last time I hinted that one of them has a mustache. I'll tell you the other one has an M in their name.

Caruso could have an uphill battle in his effort to topple Mayor Villaraigosa because he's rich, a Republican and worst of all, a developer! But alas, Cal State Fullerton political scientist Raphael Sonenshein told the LA Times "That said, I wouldn't write off Caruso. First of all, when you have lots of money, you can control your own fate in many ways. The question is: Is the disappointment with Villaraigosa so widespread?"

Capitol Alert examines the story and the impact a competitive race will have on Villaraigosa's designs to run for Governor in 2010. A bruising primary and general election battle will drain the Mayor's war chest and put him quite a bit behind potential Democratic gubernatorial opponents Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom. Sidenote: Caruso donated $12,000 to Brown.

And finally a blog called "Talented Earthquake Productions" urges Caruso not to run, saying that "Antonio is doing a solid job. He may not be the transformational Mayor we all want and sort of expect from him, but he hasn't made any major mistakes." Advice from the old, dead, Republican Mayor: If you stop expecting politicians to be "transformational figures" you won't be disappointed when you find out they are not.

4 Comments:

Michael you need to correct your story. It was Bernie Parks that Caruso and his board decided not to get a 2nd term. And the story with that idiot Maxine Waters was hearsay from a Bitter Bernie crony who was kissing his ass. Caruso already has widespread support. Antonio has done such a horrible job for this city, has no list of accomplishments, makes a fool out of himself and only caters to photo ops. Caruso is smart, has a vision, understands people of all races. Blacks are tired of all the illegals Antonio has allowed to stay in this city and taken over their neighborhood. Word out in the real world is tons of people are keeping fingers crossed that Caruso will run. No matter he's a Republican, this city desperately needs someone like him.